Page:Framley Parsonage.djvu/300

294 "He went away with a look as though he were heart-broken. He crept away slowly, saying that he was the most wretched man alive. For a minute I believed him, and could almost have called him back. But no, Fanny, do not think that I am over proud or conceited about my conquest. He had not reached the gate before he was thanking God for his escape."

"That I do not believe."

"But I do; and I thought of Lady Lufton too. How could I bear that she should scorn me, and accuse me of stealing her son's heart? I know that it is better as it is; but tell me, is a falsehood always wrong, or can it be possible that the end should justify the means? Ought I to have told him the truth, and to have let him know that I could almost kiss the ground on which he stood?"

This was a question for the doctors which Mrs. Robarts would not take upon herself to answer. She would not make that falsehood matter of accusation, but neither would she pronounce for it any absolution. In that matter Lucy must regulate her own conscience. "And what shall I do next?" said Lucy, still speaking in a tone that was half tragic and half jeering.

"Do?" said Mrs. Robarts.

"Yes, something must be done. If I were a man I should go to Switzerland, of course; or, as the case is a bad one, perhaps as far as Hungary. What is it that girls do? they don't die nowadays, I believe."

"Lucy, I do not believe that you care for him one jot. If you were in love you would not speak of it like that."

"There, there. That's my only hope. If I could laugh at myself till it had become incredible to you, I also, by degrees, should cease to believe that I had cared for him. But, Fanny, it is very hard. If I were to starve, and rise before daybreak, and pinch myself, or do some nasty work—clean the pots and pans and the candlesticks—that, I think, would do the most good. I have got a piece of sackcloth, and I mean to wear that when I have made it up."

"You are joking now, Lucy, I know."

"No, by my word—not in the spirit of what I am saying. How shall I act upon my heart if I do not do it through the blood and the flesh?"

"Do you not pray that God will give you strength to bear these troubles?"